SUPERGOOD CHRISTMAS 2007: And We Give

11.24.07

Thanksgiving

Alaina and I went to Seattle to spend the holiday with my family. My brother has been living there for three years studying the culinary arts and he has developed into a supergood chef. Needless to say, our dinner was amazing. It's pretty funny the ratio of time spent preparing the food (weeks) to time consuming the food (minutes) but regardless, the memory of the event will last a lifetime. This holiday is such a wonderful excuse to travel great distances and gather with those important to you, giving thanks for the company. Food is a fantastic centerpiece and when you have amazing chefs (Mom and Andrew) it always defies everyday taste. It is truly a feast of Love.

But what kind of a holiday is "Black Friday"? How bad is our obsession with shopping that we need to camp out for a 4am opening? I love the idea of giving gifts this season, but there seems no need for the frenzy. Give from the heart; not from the wallet, like Sufjan.

Sufjan's Christmas

Sufjan Stevens (see below) has been recording Christmas albums for years, distributing them during the holidays to family and friends. He has just released the compendium and has organized a Christmas songwriting contest on his web site--winner to receive full legal rights to a song that he has written. So I entered (see above) and made a music video of some past 12.25s including 12.25.04. Cross your fingers; a win for Supergood is a win for all as I will obviously distribute the song freely on this web site.

I wonder what his interpretation of legal rights will be. Does my song cease to be mine? Was it ever really mine to begin with? I think it belongs to anyone who hears it, but I guess that's one for the lawyers...

11.13.07

Broadway Strike

On my way to see Alaina's new off-Broadway show, C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, I walked through the middle of Local One's on-Broadway shut-down. Wow. The Stagehands walked out on Saturday over Contract disputes and closed most shows in the process. This union is incredibly powerful in the industry and obviously its members are essential to the productions... but they also have a reputation of being overpaid for minimum work. Obviously they have a right to strike, and there is so much money in this business that I hope they get what's fair, but it really gets to the heart of the matter: Broadway is a money machine. If tourists come to the city looking for theatre on a dark Broadway, maybe they will stray and find something more interesting elsewhere. New York has so much to offer and most of it comes at a fraction of the cost of a Broadway ticket. Maybe this strike will redistribute that cash to those who work harder and push the artistic envelope a bit more, and if so, I encourage Local One to hold out for every last penny.

11.01.07

Sufjan Stevens performs "The BQE" at BAM

I received a text from Ben Jervey as I was teaching a class today, alerting me that BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) had just released some tickets to tonight's premiere of Sufjan's latest opus, an ode to The BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway). After class I made the call and was thrilled to get one ticket -- 6th row center. I have admired Sufjan's work for a few years and was curious to hear what he had cooked up for this commissioned piece. I had no idea what I was in for. It was, quite simply, the best performance I have ever seen. It is unfathomable to me how he could have created such a beautiful experience using just video, music and hula hoops. I watched and listened in awe... and felt inspired like I rarely do. The video was triple projections of 8mm footage shot by the man himself of the expressway and the surrounding areas (I know that storage building! The Big Blue Gorilla selling cars!) and pieced together perfectly in themes. The music he composed is stunning, and to hear a full orchestra perform it is just unreal. He loves his irregular time signatures and the 7/8 with driving drums was overwhelming and transcendent. And the hula hoops... Five dancers with hoops spinning turned out to be the perfect complement to Sufjan's sights and sounds, hypnotizing us with their gyrations and adding a dimension of the fun and absurd to the grinding rhythm of The BQE. It is an experience that will haunt and inspire me forever.

In a way, it is a shame to see something like this because it takes the shine away from everything else. I saw Chromeo perform two nights ago and had a great time, but the music seems like a joke in comparison (partially because they are a joke, I think...). Not to take anything away from what they do, because it is unique and special in its own right, but it pales in the shadows of Sufjan, who is making incredibly sophisticated pop music. The opener at the Chromeo show was Dan Deacon, who also does something unique; he performs in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by his fans as he pumps out fast, energized beats driving his swarm into a frenzy. He also happens to be hilarious, leading the crowd in chants of "Verizon!", mocking the sponsors of the show, then making everyone sing to the VIP section in the balcony above. He also builds and operates his own lights with a simple on/off grid. He is an artist who defines his own aesthetic in a similar way to Sufjan.